On the eve of the winter solstice, the capital city of Beiliang ushered in the first snow of winter, the snow began to fall in the evening and continued to fall until late at night, and the roads and houses were covered with a layer of plain white.

On the day of the third watch, the husband walked out of the small alley next to the inner side of the city tower with his shoulders, raised his hand and rubbed his arms after taking two steps, and then took two steps to knock it better, and shouted in his mouth: "The third watch of the child, safe and sound......

Late at night, there was no one on Changning Street, the snowflakes were still falling, and the snow on the road was so deep that it didn't reach the instep.

He walked slowly along Changning Street, accompanied by a creaking stampede, leaving a lonely footprint on Changning Street, which was soon buried by the newly fallen snowflakes.

Suddenly, the graft stopped, turned to look at the gate behind him, and there was a clattering of horses' hooves at the gate. In the middle of the empty night, the sound of horses' hooves was amplified and became clear. The sound was getting closer, and it was approaching the city gate.

He whispered angrily: "It's really good to rush into the city late at night." After rubbing his arms, he turned around and continued to walk forward.

Outside the city gates, a convoy of wagons and horses was parked in the snow, and two lanterns hung from the roof of each carriage shed. The white paper lantern could no longer be seen in its original appearance, and the lantern paper was mostly damaged and yellowed, fluttering and crumbling in the cold wind.

There was a questioning voice from the first carriage, and it was a very nice voice.

"But here?"

The coachman replied, "It's time to get to the son, and it's time to get to the gate of the city." ”

The man in the carriage said "yes".

The coachman jumped out of the carriage, raised his head and shouted to the people on the city tower: "Please open the city gate for the lord of the city, my son-in-law will enter the city." ”

The people on the city tower had already noticed the carriage below, but it was too cold and they didn't want to open their mouths, waiting for someone to take the initiative to report their names.

Seeing that the people on the city tower did not respond, the coachman thought that his voice was quiet, so he raised his voice and shouted again: "Please open the city gate, my son-in-law wants to enter the city." ”

The people on the castle tower finally heard it, but they were a little impatient: "Who knows who your son-in-law is?" Register your name carefully! ”

When the people in the carriage heard this, they asked the coachman to retreat, got down from the carriage himself, and returned to the people upstairs in the city: "Lord Hui, Xiaomin Gu Yansheng, is the selected student of this year's National Academy, because of the remoteness of the family, he came a month late, and he should have waited for dawn tomorrow to enter the city, but the wind and snow closed the road, and the inns outside the city were full. ”

When the people on the city tower heard that they were students of the National Academy, their attitudes immediately changed: "It turned out to be a student of the National Academy, Gu Gongzi, wait for a while, and the city gate will be opened." ”

Gu Yansheng bowed his hand and thanked: "Thank you, sir." ”

The people on the tower of the city hurriedly called the people below to go down the tower and open the gate, and they themselves went down the tower.

After a while, the city gate opened, and the person who had just questioned him on the tower was the first to greet him.

"Gu Gongzi, it is rude to go down to the official, and I hope that Gu Gongzi will not mind, it is really an important place in the capital, and anyone who enters and leaves the city gate must be carefully checked." The man apologized to Gu Yansheng very sincerely, and the cordiality was very good, neither excessive flattery nor oppression with his identity.

Gu Yansheng said: "Yes, the adult's responsibility lies." ”

What should be said and what should be done was not ambiguous at all, he looked at the carriage behind him and asked, "Is the person in the carriage behind also Gu Gongzi's entourage?" ”

Gu Yansheng replied: "In addition to the father walking together, there is also a wife who has not passed through the door and a friend who is traveling together, and the other six are all Xiaomin's servants and servants, and adults can count and check." ”

The man waved his hand: "That's not necessary, the servant servant carried by the son only needs to have the servant and slave documents with the certificate, but I don't know who the child's friend is?" Can you also have identity documents? ”

Gu Yansheng naturally understood what he meant, and took out three documents from his sleeve and handed them to the man: "This one is the admission document of the Little Republic of China College, and this one is the identity document of the Xiaomin friend." ”

The man only glanced at it, but did not reach out to take it.

The light is not dim in the light of the snow, and it is not enough to see the face of a person, but not enough to read the words.

Gu Yansheng held the document and said: "Xiaomin's friend's surname is Liu Mingqingyang, he is a lay disciple of Xuanqing Temple in Fulu Mountain, and he often travels abroad. ”

The man nodded: "Xiaguan believes in Gongzi, and since Gongzi's friend is a person whose identity can be checked, Xiaguan will no longer check it." I would like to ask Gongzi to inform Liu Gongzi that this identity document should be carefully stored, as it will cause great inconvenience if it is lost when entering and exiting the city gate. ”

Gu Yansheng put away the documents and thanked him: "Thank you for reminding me, Xiao Minding told his friends to put away the identity documents carefully." ”

The man nodded again, thought about it, felt that there was nothing suspicious or needed to be asked again, and raised his hand to the soldier behind him.

Four soldiers standing side by side by the open gate were signaled to get out of the way.

Gu Yansheng hurriedly thanked the man again and instructed the coachman to prepare to start into the city. As soon as he turned around and was about to get into the carriage, the man called out to him again:

"Childe is now entering the city, it may be difficult to find an inn in the city that can accommodate Childe, I wonder if Childe has a place to stay in the city? If not, then it's inconvenient. ”

Gu Yansheng turned around and replied, "Xiaomin has a relative in the city who has helped arrange a place to live in the city. ”

"That's fine." The man also got out of the way.

Gu Yansheng nodded at the man and walked towards the carriage.

When the carriage stopped at the city gate, Bian Nuan had already woken up, and after Gu Yansheng returned to the carriage, Bian Nuan sat up and pulled the bedding on his body towards Gu Yansheng.

The back of his hand touched his wet body, and he asked softly, "Is it raining outside?" ”

Gu Yansheng touched her head and said with a smile: "Silly girl, it's snowing, it's winter, where is it raining." ”

Bian Nuan couldn't help but be shocked: "We really walked for three months." ”

Gu Yansheng said: "This year's snow came late, there has been no snow in various places, and the cold capital only started to snow today, and it began to fall in the evening, and the weather was cold, I couldn't bear to wake you up." ”

As he spoke, the carriage started slowly, and the sound of the wheels pressing against the hard flat ground was inaudible, replaced by the "creaking" sound of the snow being compacted.

Bian Nuan lifted the curtains of the car and looked out, and really saw the snowflakes floating outside, because the light was dim, I couldn't see the original color of the snowflakes, and I saw gray-black ashes flying in the sky, falling into silver frost.

The carriage drove into the city gates, which closed again behind them, and a voice rang out.

"Gu Gongzi, Xiaguan Liu Qing, Liu Qing of Liu Qing!"

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